A variety of packages, including dispensing packages or containers, have been developed for personal care products such as shampoo, lotions, etc., as well as for other fluid materials.
A popular package design is the squeeze bottle or flexible container which is intended to be squeezed by the user to dispense the product. Such a container typically includes a closure through which the product is dispensed.
In some designs, the closure incorporates a movable member, such as a lid, which can be positioned to open or close a dispensing orifice.
Squeezable containers can also be provided with a closure that permits venting of air into the container to equalize the inside and outside pressures when the squeezing forces are removed from the container. See for example, U.S. Pat. No. 5,009,737.
Changes in atmospheric pressure can affect a squeeze bottle package prior to being delivered to a user. In particular, a flexible squeeze bottle can suffer a partial, inward collapse when the atmospheric pressure increases or when it is subjected to an accidental impact that partially compresses the container and forces some air out of the container. Unless a venting system is provided to permit equalization of the sub-atmospheric pressure in the container with the ambient atmospheric pressure, the squeeze bottle package can remain partially collapsed This can be a source of complaints from consumers who purchase such squeeze bottle packages.
In view of this, it would be desirable to provide an improved squeeze bottle package with a venting system to permit the pressure within the bottle to be equalized with the ambient atmospheric pressure.
Further, it would also be beneficial to provide such an improved squeeze bottle package venting system with means for preventing accidental discharge of the container contents. In particular, such an improved package should not permit significant leakage or discharge of the product during shipping when the container is subjected to external impact forces.
When dispensing closures are employed in packages for personal care product liquids, especially relatively viscous liquids, there is a tendency for the venting passages and dispensing orifice to become occluded or partially blocked with the liquid or with dried, or partially dried, residue that remains on the closure after a portion of the liquid has been dispensed from the package. Thus, it would be advantageous if an improved closure could be provided with a design that is less susceptible to such blockage and/or which includes means for minimizing or correcting blockage problems.
In some applications, a dispensing closure must be operated many hundreds or thousands of times. Repeated and severe flexing of some resilient closure materials might eventually cause failure of the materials or loss of the desired resiliency. Thus, it would be beneficial to provide an improved dispensing closure for a squeeze bottle package which would operate with a reduced flexure movement and with reduced stresses so as to provide a relatively greater life cycle.
Further, the employment of an improved dispensing closure configuration that operates with reduced flexure and with reduced stresses should desirably permit the fabrication of the closure from relatively inexpensive materials that might otherwise be susceptible to tearing or other failure after a large number of operation cycles.
The present invention provides an improved closure which can accommodate designs having the above-discussed benefits and features.